Chester Bliss Bowles

Bowles, Chester Bliss (bōlz) [key], 1901–86, U.S. public official, b. Springfield, Mass.; grandson of Samuel Bowles (1851–1915). At first a journalist and an advertising man, Bowles was later (1942–43) head of the Connecticut Office of Price Administration (OPA) and then national OPA director (1943–46). He then served as director of the Office of Economic Stabilization. In 1948 he was elected governor of Connecticut as a Democrat. Defeated for reelection in 1950, he was appointed (1951) ambassador to India, where he served until 1953. From 1959–61 he sat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Chosen chairman of the Democratic platform committee for the 1960 national elections, he led the fight for a strong civil-rights plank and for a vigorous policy of foreign economic and technical aid. In 1961, he was Under Secretary of State. Again appointed (1963) ambassador to India, he served until 1969. Among his writings are The Coming Political Breakthrough (1959), The Conscience of a Liberal (1962), and Promises to Keep: My Years in Public Life, 1941–1969 (1971).